I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. There have been signs for a while now that the Tea Party isn't as economically focused as they would have had you believe when they first emerged two years ago. As Amanda put it in a post from May, "The real story here is that the GOP is claiming to be all about economics, and then turning around and spending most of their time trying to legislate sex out of existence." I just thought Nikki Haley might be the one tea partier who walked the walk of economic focus instead of just talking the talk.

Jessica Grose is a frequent Slate contributor and the author of the novel Sad Desk Salad. Follow her on Twitter.